Music Monday

As part of the new approach I have to my blog, I will use Mondays to feature different things. Music will be one of the big ones, but I'll also touch on movies I've seen, what I got up to over the weekend - if it's worth sharing, (i.e. I will not recount my haps of being a potato and watching movies all weekend while designing blog layouts and attempting to avoid sugar hangovers), how-tos or what I likes. Basically, anything is really fair game - perhaps I should re-name to mish-mash Monday, or mash-up Monday. hmmmmm... what do all y'all think???

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Grizzly Bear: Two Weeks

I absolutely love this song. I think I may have said something to the effect of "This is the type of song that buries straight through you and encompasses your soul". Embarrassing. I know. Rarely do I allow myself to go that close to the granolas, but this song is deserving of that kind of cringe-worthy admission.

Food Friday: Vegan Marble Banana Bread

I am very excited to announce my second-ever pinterest recipe adventure was a delicious success! If you follow my pinterest, you'll know that the majority of my pins are of food and so I can't help but celebrate each time I manage to make one a reality [I want to eat. it. ALL.].

I love banana bread, always have always will. It's deliciousness is the only reason I can even stand saying the worst moist [ugh. that was hard and gross -that's what she said... I digress]. The point is, when I saw this pin and knew that I could up my game to include a chocolate - but not too chocolatey - banana bread, I nearly passed out from excitement. 

INGREDIENTS:  1 cup mashed banana 3/4 cups sugar 1 teaspoon canola oil 1/3 cup almond milk 1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 6 tablespoons boiling water, divided

Begin by boiling the water and preheating the oven to 350 F. Next, start mashing your naners in a large bowl, beating in the sugar, oil, milk and vanilla. Set aside.

Sift your flour, baking soda and salt - not because it's fun, but because you know it's worth it. Gently mix the flour into the wet ingredients.

Now, here's where things get crazy. Separate half of the batter into another bowl. In a small bowl mix the cocoa powder with 3T of the boiling water. Once this has dissolved into delicious hot cocoa water mix it into one half of the batter, creating that chocolatey goodness. Once this is mixed, add the remaining 3T of boiling water to the boring ol' plain batter and mix.

At this point, you should have two bowls of batter. Begin added them to your nicely buttered, lightly flour-dusted pan, one half cup at a time layering the chocolate with the plain. Once all your batter is in there take a knife and swirl it around the length of the pan -don't let it drag on the bottom though.

Put it in your preheated oven and voila! 55 minutes later [more if your oven is sneaky] you've got a delicious marble banana bread! ...and since it's all vegan and healthy you can pretty much devour that thing start to finish right from the oven. Enjoy!

Notes:

Just because it's vegan doesn't mean it needs to have a weird rubbery texture!

Hurray for finding healthy recipes that also taste good!!

Since it's vegan you'll need almond, soy or rice milk instead of regular. Ooo! Also, you could try coconut milk. Any would do and they're all pretty fantastic to bake with.

Sift the flour twice. This always helps with cakes and muffins and since eggs aren't included in vegan recipes, the sifted flour will definitely help lighten the batter.

Food Friday: Grilled Veg Bagnat

This isn't the GIANT sandwich I've made, it definitely won't be the last and I won't share EVER large sandwich I make with you, but this one deserved some attention. When I posted my experimentation with Pan Bagnat my friend, Terra, commented how she had made something similar with roasted veggies, goat cheese, fresh basil and pesto. Yeah. That DOES sound delicious. I pretty much tripped over myself trying to make it ASAP!!!

The concept is pretty simple. Choose some of your favourite veggies, drizzle olive oil over top of them (1 - 2T), sprinkle with your seasoning (I chose salt & pepper), toss, lay flat on a baking sheet and then roast for 30 minutes, flipping half way through.

Next, slice your large baguette in half and dig out the majority of the bread and discard... or eat it bit by bit while you assemble the sandwich. Spread the pesto on one side and the goat cheese on the other, laying the basil leaves over top the goat cheese. Layer your veggies on the side that is the deepest and then put both sides together.

Technically, you could just go ahead and eat the sandwich right away ...but you shouldn't. Instead you should be super patient, wrap the sandwich in saran wrap and put it in the fridge with a weight on top (like a block of butter) and let it sit for 5 hours so the flavours blend.

Serve with a side salad or soup, or just continue eating through the entirety of the sandwich, forgoing any sides; either one.

Food Friday: Pita Pizza

Holy cow, guys. I just took a peek through my last few "what i ate" posts and was shocked at what I found; I have been on an intense sugar kick.  S'mores bars, carrot cake, dessert tarts, peanut butter cookies!? I think the only thing I have left to master is molasses. Just call me Betty Crocker and we'll call it a night. I'm serious, I think I've proven I deserve it. 

In any case, I've seen the direction my life is going without an influx of veggies and I'm making strides to change my ways. Pita pizzas are an old friend of mine. Not going to lie, they've helped me out of a few jams in my day. Random veggies leftover from a week's worth of dinners? Not enough veggies to make anything substantial? Toss in a pita and some pesto and they'll have a new lease on life! 

One of the best things about pita pizza is you can dress it pretty much any way you'd like AND it always stays fun and exciting because it's so easy to switch up the toppings! This week my fridge had a bunch of my favourite veggies (coincidence) left over from the week's meals. I wasn't picky; I chopped them all up. 

Since I was feeling fancy and have a penchant for basil, I went with pesto as my base. I have also been known to use olive oil with garlic or tomato paste, both are delicious. Other awesome topper options are sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, asparagus, pepperoni, cheddar, smoked gouda, eggplant, and the list goes on... although I wouldn't begin to assume they all mesh perfectly together.

Once you've brushed your base and topped your toppers, place your pita pizza on the cookie sheet and toss it in your pre-heated (400 degree) oven. Bake for 10 minutes and, voila! Dinner! This whole meal can take as little as 25 minutes to make. And even better? One pita pizza with a side of salad is enough dinner for one girl! Quick, easy AND a perfect portion size!? Amazing.

Notes:

hmmm, notes... notes...

anything you want to sautee or soften before hand?

Do it. it's worth the time and makes it all kinds of extra delicious.

For the above pizza I sauteed the onions, mushrooms, zucchini and red peppers.

that's all I've got. I love these effin' things.

if you've got any questions, ask away!

Food Friday: S'mores Bars

Yes, you heard right; S'mores bars. They exist, it's not a dream. I know, I did a double take the first time I got wind of this too. In fact, I think I yelled at my screen "I've been dreaming of this day for so long, it can't be true." But they are. They are true. And they are DELICIOUS. I've been a fan of s'mores since I had my first one three years ago - yeah I know, sheltered - but I've never cared for the uneven melting a campfire offers. With s'mores bars, there is none of that NONSENSE! My thinking is, this is a little taste of what heaven would be like.

Don't actually use marshmallows. I tried it and they disintegrate. But they sure are pretty.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla 
1 1/3 cups flour 

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 or 3 super-sized (5 oz.) chocolate bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. 

Grab a 8 x 8, or 11 x 7 pan. Butter it. Butter it good. Divide dough in half and press half the dough into an even layer of your pan. Next lay down the full chocolate bars and then begin to scoop the fluff in a layer on top.

As tough as it's going to be, do not eat the chocolate bars before you get a chance to use them in the recipe. I started in on them, which is why you see all the chocolate evenly spaced in chunks around the dish, that and my low-level OCD of course. This is not the best way to go about it. The fluff is sticky and a life-ruiner. If I had been able to control myself and not give into that sweet, delicious, milky Cadbury the fluff debacle may never have been and I'd be a different person today.

Now I didn't take photos of the next, difficult and irritating part, but you can go here to see how it's done. I apologize for leaving it out but I was slightly cranky. It's actually not too hard to roll out but getting it from the saran wrap to the top of the fluff is super fun (italics = sarcasm).     

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes and then let cool completely.

Finally, make sure that you can bring these to your office, a party or a friends' house or else you will eat them ALL. You may enjoy it at first, but believe me, your tummy will turn on you later.